TSA removes 18 month baby from plane over no-fly list

What’s especially annoying about this latest act of stupidity from the TSA is that they throw the parents in the always enjoyable loop of “it’s not us, it’s the airline.” Back in 2002 while traveling across the US, we had the distinct pleasure of hearing the same garbage. The airline blamed security and security blamed the airline, even when they were right next to each other. Lovely. Who doesn’t like being humiliated and then get caught in a ping-pong match where nobody can give an answer?

At this point, both JetBlue and the TSA need to apologize to this family. The TSA also needs to figure out how to inject a few ounces of common sense into one of the most dense organizations. The family ought to also contact their representative in Congress so they can try to live like normal Americans who are only harassed on occasion and not every time they try to take a family vacation.

Eighteen-month-old Riyanna has been called a lot of things: cute, adorable and now … a suspected terrorist.

She was called that on Tuesday night at the Ft Lauderdale Airport. She and her parents had just boarded a JetBlue flight when an airline employee approached them and asked them to get off the plane, saying representatives from the Transportation Security Agency wanted to speak to them.

“And I said, ‘For what?'” Riyanna’s mother told only WPBF 25 News on Wednesday. “And he said, ‘Well, it’s not you or your husband. Your daughter was flagged as no fly.’ I said, ‘Excuse me?'”

Chris in Paris
An American in Paris, France. BA in History & Political Science from Ohio State. Provided consulting services to US software startups, launching new business overseas that have both IPO’d and sold to well-known global software companies. Currently launching a new cloud-based startup. Full bio here.